Persuasion and the Risky Business of Breaking the Fourth Wall

If you want to provoke Jane Austen purists and summon a heated Twitter debate, just have one of her heroines break the fourth wall. That was the fate that befell Netflix’s Persuasion, a semi-modern take on Austen’s last completed novel that has Dakota Johnson’s Anne Elliot staring down the barrel of a camera. She also calls sheet music from her former lover a “playlist,” Henry Golding’s character “a 10,” and herself “an empath”—creative choices that have inspired more agony than hope. The fourth wall—and the temptation to puncture it—has existed since the beginning of storytelling. Often credited to philosopher Denis… Read Full Article